Contrast media are used to enhance the contrast of patient vasculature within x-ray images. For example, a contrast medium is introduced into a patient volume (e.g., via intravenous injection) and an x-ray image of the volume is acquired while the medium is located within the volume. In the x-ray image, structures which contain the medium (e.g., veins and arteries) appear darker than they would otherwise appear.
X-ray images may be successively acquired as a contrast medium passes through patient vasculature. These images portray the flow of contrast medium over time and may be displayed in rapid succession to animate the flow of contrast medium.
A transit curve may be generated based on such successively-acquired images. A transit curve depicts a normalized percentage of contrast medium concentration within a region of interest over time. However, a conventional transit curve does not differentiate between the respective contributions of contrast flow through vessels and contrast flow through other tissue within the region of interest.